A typical elastic wheel includes a disk secured to an axle hub, a rim for mounting a tire and a vibration-suppressing body arranged between the disk and the rim for the purpose of improving anti-vibration performance and passenger comfort. Various types of such an elastic wheel have been proposed thus far. For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 59-188701 discloses a wheel for mounting a tire that employs a spring as the vibration-suppressing body in order to improve passenger comfort.
Some elastic wheels use a rubber-made vibration-suppressing body between the rim and the disk. For example, an elastic wheel disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 57-73203 employs a rubber-like elastic body to connect a rim to a disk. Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 5-338401 discloses an elastic wheel in which a vibration-suppressing rubber body is provided in a gap formed between a rim and the elastic wheel. Further, International Patent Publication WO 9833666 discloses a wheel barrier assembly in which an annular rubber strip is arranged between a rim and an inner rim that has the same profile as the rim.
When a spring or rubber is used to serve as the vibration-suppressing body in the elastic wheels, however, performances of the wheels resulting from the vibration-suppressing body are not expected to last long because the vibration-suppressing body eventually deteriorates and a wheel in general must withstand longer use than a tire.
Also, conventional elastic wheels do not allow adjustment of their performances. For example, it has not been possible thus far to change the construction of the elastic wheel that puts emphasis on passenger comfort on a paved road to the one that puts emphasis on durability for part of the period of its use, so that the wheel can withstand a large input load on a rough road. Nor has it been possible to construct an elastic wheel that can be adjusted to adapt to various types of automobiles and different environmental conditions ranging from cold to tropical weather. Further, conventional elastic wheels require a vulcanizing apparatus to be designed to accommodate the entire wheel, which leads to the difficulty in making the wheel.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an elastic wheel that can ensure long-lasting passenger comfort, anti-vibration performance and noise-suppression performance particular to the elastic wheel and allow optimization of these performances depending on their applications even during its use.